Loder takes down another tourney title

Tim Lloyd, Special to The Press-TribuneGranite Bay's Ryan Loder throws Tommy Burriel of Clovis during the championship match.

Tim Lloyd, Special to The Press-TribuneWoodcreek's Garrett Jones goes for the legs at the Tim Brown tourney.

Tim Lloyd, Special to The Press-TribuneGranite Bay freshman Gavin Andrews was eighth in the heavyweight division.

Ryan Loder continues to dominate the 189-pound weight class as he prepares to make a run at a state wrestling title. The Granite Bay senior won his division at the prestigious Tim Brown Memorial Tournament at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium Saturday night to continue an unbeaten season.
Loder won all five of his matches, culminating with a 5-1 win in the championship bout against Tommy Burriel of Clovis.
It was Burriel who handed Woodcreek’s powerful 189-pound grappler, Garrett Jones, his first loss of the competition. Jones ended up in sixth place at 189 pounds after losing the fifth-place match to Justin Baffico of Freedom High.
“Garrett was hurt on the second day and his last match he didn't wrestle well,” Woodcreek coach Doug Mason said. “I expected him to be third or fourth, but this was a very competitive tournament this year.”
Granite Bay finished 22nd as a team in the 85 school field and Woodcreek was 30th.
Grizzly freshman Gavin Andrews placed eighth in the heavyweight division, and Granite Bay also got solid performances from Adam Wagner (145), who dropped his first match but performed nicely in the bottom of the draw and Alex Asturias (115).
“Most of the rest of our wrestlers won at least one match,” Granite Bay coach Mike Lynch said. “Many went 2-2. It was a really valuable experience in their development and we are very happy we went.”
Jones was the only Woodcreek wrestler to finish in the top eight of his weight class, but the Timberwolves had some success at other levels.
Spencer Mason had some success in the upper bracket at 119 pounds, while Quinn Walker (125), Ryan Albers (145) and Cody Loe (16) dropped early matches, but then had some success in the lower half of the draw.
“We expected to do better than we did,” Mason said. “Quinn did very well. He was wrestling up a weight class and was really out-gunned but wrestled smart and won a few. You have to be on your game to gut these (big tournaments) out. On the second day, everyone you wrestle is good and in the consolation rounds everyone is desperate. You can't have any distractions or injuries.”
Oakmont freshman Jake Elliott lost a tight 6-5 match to the No. 8 seed at 125 pounds, and then dropped his next match in the consolation bracket. The sad news for the Vikings was a knee injury to senior Blake Thompson (130).
Thompson won the match in which he suffered the injury by pin, but was unable to continue. The damage to his knee likely ends a strong season and outstanding career at Oakmont for one of the Vikings’ few veteran wrestlers.
Granite Bay resident Adam Lymath, wrestling for Folsom High School, finished second at 160 pounds, losing in the final to Stephen West of Buchanan, the top-ranked wrestler in the state at that weight.
Roseville High School spent its day Saturday in Gilroy at the MidCal tourney, where it finished 19th as a team.
“We were missing a handful of guys due to injury or illness so I only took eight guys and every one of them wrestled very well,” coach Tom Gonzalez said. “I was pleased with the overall performance and I think we would've finished much higher had we had a full team.”
Dylan Jankovich (127) and Kris McFate (147) finished in fifth place, while the other six Tiger grapplers all finished one match short of a medal.